The number of Chinese netizens reached 123 million as of June 30, 2006. This is a 19.4 percent rise compared with the same period last year, according to report released on Wednesday by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The report states that China saw an increase of 12 million netizens in the first half of 2006 -- 1.5 times up on the increase for the second half of 2005. About 77 million netizens connect to the Internet by broadband. This is up 24 million -- 45.3 percent -- compared with the same period last year. The international bandwidth of China's Internet has hit 214,175 megabytes -- a 159.2 percent rise compared with same period last year.

The report includes for the first time statistical analysis of young citizens. Among 200 million primary and middle school students, 30 million, or 15.4 percent, have Internet access. The percentage zooms upwards to over 50 percent among high school students.

The report shows that on average netizens use the Internet 16.4 hours per week which is a new high and even longer than figures for some Internet developed countries. 

The number of computers connected to Internet by broadband has reached 28.15 million. And various applications of the CN domain name have been further developed; the application of the Blog CN and individualized mailboxes, in particular, have brought a further increase of websites with separate domain names.

The report says the number of websites in China has reached 788,400 of which 90,000 were added in the first half of 2006.

According to an online survey conducted by CNNIC, about 15 million netizens use online education tools very often, 25 million often surf the Internet for job services and those who use blog and online shopping services have reached 28 million and 30 million respectively. Compared with the same period last year there's been a 50 percent rise in netizens who always shop online. 

The report says that the Internet in China has developed quickly, but compared with developed countries it still had a long way to go to improve Internet coverage and solve the problems in services between urban and rural areas.

This is the 18th statistical report on China's Internet development released by CNNIC.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing, July 20, 2006)